Pamela Anderson is set to enter the Indian Big Brother house as a surprise celebrity guest.

The former Baywatch star will join the 10 remaining participants on reality show Bigg Boss for an "unspecified time" on Wednesday, a spokesman for airing channel COLORS revealed.

Pamela said: "Namaste India. It's been a long trip from LA to come and visit you here, but I am very excited to be in India and to meet the Bigg Boss housemates. Actually it's my first visit so I hope I will be able to get some impressions of the country during my stay."

The 43-year-old actress and model - who appeared on Australian Big Brother for just three days in 2008 - is expected to be a big ratings boost for the show, now in its fourth series.

The Indian contestants in the house this year, filmed near the western city of Mumbai, include a former woman bandit and some models and TV actors. The show is hosted by Bollywood star Salman Khan.

Staunch animal rights campaigner Pamela - who has posed naked for Peta on numerous occasions - wrote a letter to Mumbai's municipal authorities last year requesting them to sterilise and not kill stray dogs.

She wrote: "Dogs cannot use condoms but... they can be 'fixed' painlessly."

Pamela is due to appear naked on the cover of the January 2011 edition of Playboy magazine, her 11th cover in 22 years.

Jade Goody appeared in Bigg Boss in 2008 when it was hosted by her former UK Celebrity Big Brother housemate, Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty.

Jade died aged 27 in March 2009, after a high-profile battle with cervical cancer. She learned she had the condition while in the Indian Big Brother house.